Prison staff did nothing as MS-13 gang member beat inmate with sock full of padlocks, lawsuit says

An inmate alleges staff at the Sunset Park prison (pictured) didn't protect him while he was being brutally attacked by a reputed MS-13 gang member. (Joe Marino/New York Daily News)

A reputed MS-13 gang member beat a fellow inmate with a sock full of padlocks — and prison staff were in no rush to stop the savage attack, according to a Brooklyn federal lawsuit.

Rafael Lopez alleged the merciless beating, which broke his ribs and lacerated a kidney, was entirely avoidable.

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Prison authorities knew well ahead of the September 2016 attack that Douglas (Unico) Mendoza was a feared inmate with mental problems, Lopez said in the suit he filed Monday.

Lopez, 53, was watching a baseball game with other prisoners inside the Metropolitan Detention Center when Mendoza, charged with a 2010 murder, flipped the channel to something else. The petty action was a power play to up Mendoza's status in the violent gang, Lopez said.

Another inmate flipped the channel back to the game, and there was a quick argument before everyone chilled out, the suit said.

Mendoza, 24, had retreated but soon came back, emerging from his cell with his makeshift weapon, according to the court papers.

He began whaling on Lopez, the lawsuit said.

Two officers in the dorm area didn't immediately try to stop the assault, according to the suit. Eventually, officers in riot gear swarmed instead.

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Lopez said staff at the Sunset Park jail didn't know how to protect him, so they put him in special housing for three months before transferring him to another federal jail in Manhattan. Lopez, charged with drug distribution conspiracy, is still being held at the Manhattan jail.

He said it wasn't just the sluggish reaction that was the problem.

Authorities had been on notice about the gangbanger's mental health and reputation for years, court papers said. Inmates had previously complained to the jail that Mendoza was armed and dangerous, but nothing happened.

About a year before the Lopez attack, Mendoza's issues were plain to a judge who said the man was "making motions with his body, which are not normal." Judge Leonard Wexler also said Mendoza had a "faraway look in his eyes."

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Lopez said Mendoza underwent a psychiatric exam, but was never given medication. Mendoza's case is pending.